Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-04-11
NJ. E. CHURCH SOUTH.
The Sermon of Kcv. w. b. Strad.

The word gospel" means good news,
glad tidings. What more joyful mes
sage could heaven send to earth than
that contained in the text? Your enc.
my, death, is destroyed, and life, i'm.
mortal life, is secured to you through
the mediations OF Jesus Christ. IT'S no
wonder that sympathizing angels has
tened to break the news to the devout
men who were waiting for redemption
while they watched their focks upon
the Judeau plains.
"In heaven the rapturous JOY began, and
sweet seraphic fire
Through all the shining legion ran, and
strung snd tuned the Tyre;
Swift through the vast expanse it flowed,
and loud the echo rolled;
| The theme, the song, the Joy was new;
twas more than heaven could hold;
Down through the portals of the sky the i'm
retDOus torrent ran,
And angels few with eager Joy to bear the
news to man."
How strange that earth gave such an
inhospitable reception to heavens mes
senger! "There was no room for him in
The inn." How strange that the men
he came to save from their greatest
| calamity and or rich with heavens best
treasure should treat him with such
ndignity and subject him to such suffer.
ing and shame! "He was despised and
rejected of men," Sure, after this, no
argument is needed to estiblish the fact
of human depravity. No stronger man
Hesitation of Gods forbearance and
loving kindness is possible than that
which we have in his persis ent effort to
save us from our sins and their conse.
quences. The majority of men to-day
are standing out ag ainst this wondrous
offer of life--this inexpressible mani
festation of fatherly love. Some of you
who bear arms against this blessed Sa.
vior are here to-day. The proclamation
of pardon and peace is again published;
the offer Of deiveranee from death and
an interest in eternal life is again made.
Will you not be reasonable and just with
with your maker? Will you not for
once consult your own best intere SITS and
ground your arms of rebellion? Come,
ioin with us in the celebration of this
greatest event in universal history !
Come, share with us the Joy which flows
| tiOUl d COuSClOusdCoo VI .pdtuOL ubo u
sense of proprietorship in this great sal.
vation. The door of mercy is wide open to
you. God is to be had for the asking
A victory over death and conscious
thrill of new, full life shall be yours ii
you will only accept it. What wonder
that all earth is not ringing with peans
of praise and shouts of victory! Mil.
lions Of souls are longing for the very
thing which is here offered. without
monTy and without price. They are
cropping for it in the darkness; they are
delvipg for it in the earth; they are
bending every energy; they are racking
every faculty of body and mind to OBJ.
tain that which is alone the gift of God
80, taste and see that the Lord is good!'
Pardon my Importantly, but l would
have you share this joy with us to-day,
In Gods stead am appointed to per
suade you; by the commandment of my
master am to urge, to constrain you, to
come to this gospel feast.
The first accomplished fact OF the
atonement is the abolition of death.
The genesis of death is this: "Sin. ...
bringeth forth DEATH" The two are as
inseparable as cause and effect, ante.
cedent and consequent. Again, the
figure is changed, and death is repre-
sented as the sting of sin, while the
strength of sin is the inexorable law of
God. "Thanks be unto God, who Civ.
eth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ"
The autithesis of life and death are
distinctively Pauline, and the words are
to be taken in their full force. Death
means more than the separation of body
and spirit; it means the separation of
the soul from him in whom alone it can
find true and lasting happiness, because
it was created by him. Separated from
him it is out of it's natural orbit, and
hence is doomed to unrest until it is re-
stored. The state of lost soul is moth.
ing more nor les, than this. 1t could
not possibly be worse. All this imagery
of darkness, and gnashing, and fire, and
gnawing worms cannot approach to the
intensity of the original and true mean
ing.
It is death, in this fullest and most
awful sense, that is destroyed by the
worlds Redeemer. Will Carleton, the
poet of the common people, tells us OF
earle, the Martyr, who saved group
of children from the teeth of a rabid
dog by receiving the ferocious monster
in his own arms, and then forged the
chain with which he bound himself dur.
ing the days of his madness, until death
brought relief.
How fitly that illustrates the death oi
the son of God for us! He received the
bolt which we merited, upon his OWE
head. He died that We might live. He
entered the grave, SO full of mystery
and gloom, that, rising, he might dives
lit of its terror and transform it into the
gate of glory. He suffered the penalty
Of viola ed law in order that it might.b
yindicated and honored, and yet tht
guilty offenders set free.
He laid down his life and took it agair
that he might lift the fallen race will
him from the lowest hell to the highes
heaven.
The term Life has the same breadtl
and comprehensiveness of meaning. l
includes all life. 1t is even true tina
'in Him we live and move and have ou
being" He is the giver of "the lite tina
, now is and that which is TO come" Il
| what a narrow sphere most of US, from
r choice, move? 1t is the little roun'
daily care about what we shall eat, AM
what we shall drink, and wherewithal
e we shall be clothed. Our Heavenl
' Father knoweth that we have need o
n thesa tbinos and hath promised to civ